Cindy Prascik's Review of An Actor Prepares

Dearest Blog: Thanks to a slow weekend at the cinema, yesterday I had the opportunity to catch up with Jack Huston's latest picture, An Actor Prepares, via XFinity On Demand.

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers...if you've seen one, which I sure as heck didn't around here.

 

Declared too ill to fly from LA to New York for his "favorite" child's wedding, an aging, self-absorbed actor sets out on a cross-country road trip with his estranged son.

 

The burning questions:

 

1.) Will this film be as pretentious as its name? 

 

2.) Has Jack Huston finally found another vehicle worthy of his exceptional talent? (Been a long dry spell since Boardwalk Empire.)

 

Unfortunately, the answers are yes and no, respectively.

 

An Actor Prepares suffers a terminal case of Pilot Syndrome. You know, that very first episode of a television series, where every aspect of every character is super-sized to bring viewers up to speed as quickly as possible? Comic-book movies devote entire films to back story with their origins stories. Well-crafted movies educate with subtext so skillful as to be unnoticeable. This movie bangs you over the head again and again for the duration. The main characters not being very likable anyway, the exaggeration quickly grows old. Jeremy Irons has a gleeful ol' time as a self-centered thespian whose charisma fools all but those closest to him. For the first half of the movie, he almost fools the viewer as well, his escapades seeming hilarious to anyone not in the path of the fallout. As the obviously-NOT-favorite child, Huston does a terrific job of conveying the weariness that comes from surviving in the direct orbit of such a person, forever painted the bad guy, the buzz-kill, the wet blanket. The character is uptight and a little whiny, but layer on a troubled relationship and a failing career, and I didn't have a hard time forgiving him for it. (Your own ability to do so may rely solely on your position within your own family's pecking order.) An Actor Prepares is handicapped by poorly-written dialogue that is frequently crass just for the sake of it. "Deeper" moments are scored by dreadful emo songs as the film trudges to a predictable finale. The big screen dodged a bullet by sending this one straight to download.

 

An Actor Prepares clocks in at 97 minutes. The movie is unrated, but features adult situations, adult language, some nudity, and drug use.

 

An Actor Prepares is a slog that proves unworthy of its talented cast. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, An Actor Prepares gets four and a half.

 

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW: THE WARD

ON VIDEO

THE WARD


A young girl named Kristen (Amber Heard) awakens in a psychiatric hospital after setting a farmhouse ablaze, and finds herself stalked by a malevolent ghost in this psychological shocker from celebrated horror director John Carpenter (Halloween). Badly battered and seemingly stricken with amnesia, Kristen forges a fragile friendship with fellow patients Sarah (Danielle Panabaker), Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca), Emily (Mamie Gummer), and Zoey (Laura-Leigh) as her compassionate therapist, Dr. Stringer (Jared Harris), works to uncover the source of her mysterious condition. Later, at night, when the lights in her remote ward go dim, Kristen is confronted by an imposing phantom that seems intent on dragging her screaming into the darkness. Eventually, the other girls in the ward begin to vanish, one by one. Now, the harder Kristen fights to avoid falling prey to her shadowy pursuer, the more convinced she becomes that no patient who's checked in to North Bend Psychiatric Hospital ever comes out alive. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Amber Heard, Danielle Panabaker, Mamie Gummer, Lyndsy Fonseca, Jared Harris

Release Date: Jul 08, 2011

Rated R for violence and disturbing images

Runtime: 1 hr. 28 min.

Genres: Horror, Suspense/Thriller

Review:

John Carpenter took a 9 year hiatus from feature filmmaking after making the dreadful Ghost of Mars. Carpenter’s return was mildly anticipated because he’s created a handful of favorites including one of my favorite horror films ever, his remake of The Thing. That being said, even the most diehard fan can’t ignore his obvious decline during the 90’s even though I am one of the few that liked Vampires. The Ward unfortunately just continues the decline, it’s biggest sin is that’s it not really a mess on the scale of Ghost of Mars but it’s just so bland and uninspired that you are left wondering why he chose this project to break his hiatus. The film is directed decently and it flows nicely but it’s just about as vanilla as it gets. Nothing about it has any identity or soul, it’s a mindless run through a plot that’s rudimentary and never really all that engaging. Amber Heard is incredibly easy on the eyes but her performance along with the rest of the cast, outside of Jared Harriss who looks like he’s really trying, is bland and nondescript. At best I can see it as a throwback to the “woman in cages” exploitation films from the 70’s but even that is kind of a stretch. It’s still better than Synder’s horrid Sucker Punch but that’s not really much of a compliment. Carpenter’s general sense of disinterest is so palpable that you can almost here him yawning in the background or maybe that’s you.

C-